Users interacting in a real, and/or simulated environment can require or prefer assistance identifying when meaningful sounds occur, and/or where sounds in the environment are coming from, relative to the user.
For example, when a user is within a surround audio environment, localizing sound can be difficult due to limitations of spatial audio reproduction. As another example, when a user is wearing headphones, intensity panning, down-mix methods, binaural virtualization, and ambisonic renderings can be insufficient for accurately localizing sound due to limitations such as a front/back cone of confusion. As another example, localizing sound can be difficult even in real environments, due to factors such as hearing loss, high noise levels, reflections, and activity levels.
As a result, there exists a need for identifying when meaningful sounds occur in multi-channel audio, and/or identifying where such sounds are located in the soundstage of the multi-channel audio.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. The configurations shown in the drawings are merely examples, and should not be construed as limiting the scope in any manner.